It's All Coming Back To Me Now
by a62belle
Summary: The machine in The Magical Place mucks up Coulson's brain so he has amnesia unless Skye is around. The problem? Skye was Coulson's girlfriend and broke up with him after she saw him enter May's bunk the day he went back to the Bus, thinking he was cheating on her. Ward takes his chance on Skye, causing an internal war. Inspired by Skye Coulson's Love Will Remember. Skoulson.
1. Chapter 1

"I heard what you did for me," Coulson says, unnaturally formal.

What's up with him? Skye thinks, he does know I'm his girlfriend, right? I would do anything for him, but he seemed fairly capable of handling himself before and said he was fine.

Then again, it is an unwritten rule of S.H.I.E.L.D., never say you're not alright, even when you aren't. There is a blankness, a desperation in Coulson's eyes that chills Skye to her core, but she decides to accredit it to the fact that he'd just been tortured for three days.

"I think it's time we removed this," he says, even more awkwardly, "Disengage bracelet."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Skye replies sarcastically, her brain going on auto-pilot. There's something wrong with Phil Coulson, her boyfriend, the man she loves. There had always been something about him that made her feel safe. Right now, that quality seemed to be absent in him.

"Back in that room, did they learn anything?" she asks.

"No."

"Did you? I heard what you were saying," Skye tries again. It'll be a long time before she can shake of the memory of his begging, pleading for death.

"It wasn't real. They were just messing with my head," he replies, sounding every bit as if he doesn't believe it, but wants to believe it with everything he's got, "But I appreciate your concern."

She's going to find out what happened to Phil Coulson, the informal, laughing, private boyfriend she knows, but she can't let him suspect.

He turns around to climb up the stairs. Waiting for a few moments before embarking, Skye follows him up to May's bunk, where she sees him just opening the door. Shocked, she quickly goes to her bunk and programs at an exceptional rate an alarm to wake her when anybody exits May's bunk.

She needs to find out what on earth her A.C. is doing in May's bunk at this hour.

"Melinda, you've got to help me," he whispers, brokenly as he closes the door behind him.

May, dressed in her pyjamas simply looks at him stunned. Despite the pair thinking their relationship as clandestine, there actually isn't a single person on his Bus who doesn't know about it, and it shocks her he would seek help from her rather than Skye.

"What's the matter, Phil?" she replies, not moving, standing near the edge of her bed, directly mirroring his posture, trying her best not to express any surprise, "If you need help, why don't you go to Skye?"

"Skye? Who's she?" He asks, his face convoluted into one of desperation. May, despite knowing the fact he MUST know who 'Skye' is, can't help but wonder if he's telling the truth.

"Should I know about this team? About the Bus? What happened to me? Why am I here even though I clearly died? God, Mel, what should I know?" he asks, his questions rapid-fire in his desperate way.

"Wait a minute, what's the last thing you remember?" May asks, trying to understand the full situation, hoping against hope that he does not mean what he's implying.

"Fury, telling me that dying wasn't an option,"he says, still confused.

"Phil, do you remember T.A.H.I.T.I.?" May asks, wincing, She was, before Skye, his best friend and closest confidante but there was never anything romantic. Melinda May just didn't do romantic.

He leans subconsciously onto the wall behind him, sliding down to the ground with a thud as he buries his face into his hands, "Get it out of my head," he whispers pathetically as May closes in on him.

"After that?" she asks, trying to get him out of the topic of his resurrection.

"Nothing," he whispers again, not looking up.

This was worse than May would have ever feared. Then again, Coulson finding out about T.A.H.I.T.I. had pretty much been her worse fear up to now.

"We'll see Jemma about this tomorrow, she's our medical specialist," May elaborates. Deciding Coulson is in no state to go back to his room, she half-drags him up, making him comfortable on her bed as she takes her computer and streams pirated movies (lessons from Skye) to watch for the rest of the night.

"Good Morning May," Coulson says as he gets up from the bed.

"Morning," she replies, good as it might be for him, it's certainly not particularly good for her, "We should get you to Jemma now."

"Good idea," he says, "I'll give you a minute to dress."

He leaves with a briskness that stuns even May, who, having known him for so long, has known all his moods except this one, the sudden indifference. It worries her so she leaves for her cockpit to give an emergency update.

"Coulson," says a familiar, loved voice in an entirely different tone than it's usual warm one.

Everything suddenly comes back to him at once. The Bus, the missions, The Rising Tide, everything.

"Skye," he says with relief, spinning around to see his beloved hacker.

He doesn't expect the glare he gets.

"You just walked out of May's bunk after spending an entire night with her while dating someone else on the team, looking remarkably ruffled. Do you know how bad that looks?" she asks without any emotion other than raw disgust and hatred.

"Skye, I can explain-" he starts.

"Cut it, Coulson," she cuts in venomously, then with a sudden breakdown of emotion, "I thought you'd be different, that you'd care. Apparently not, so I'm breaking up with you. We. Are. Through," with that, she turns to leave.

"Please, Skye!" he begs, attempting to chase her.

"I'm tired of your bullshit, Coulson," she says, shrugging him off, "I need someone who I can trust."

She walks away, and suddenly, he can't seem to remember anything.

What's he doing on this Airbus? Who was she, anyway? Skye?

As May walks tentatively towards the paralysed Coulson, he whirls around, glad to see a familiar face in this strangeness, "Help me, Mel. Who just broke up with me?"

"Skye," she replies, confused. What the hell is happening to him? Didn't she just see him with a fully-functional memory just a few seconds later?

"Who's Skye?" he asks again, the same desperate tone in his voice as last night.

May grabs him by the arm, pulling him towards the staircase, "That's it, we're going to see Jemma."

"Good morning May," Jemma greets cheerfully from a desk in her lab, "Can I help you?"

"Coulson," she says, pulling him in front of her, "Says he can't remember anything beyond the Battle of New York," she lies. She doesn't think the 'normal' Coulson would appreciate her sharing T.A.H.I.T.I. with Jemma. Besides, she doesn't have the security clearance. She tells Jemma about the morning's events.

"Surely not," Jemma says worriedly, "Agent Coulson, who am I?" she tests.

"I have no idea," he replies, instantly

"He seems to remember nothing," Jemma says, stating the obvious.

"Was like this last night," May says.

"Last night?" Jemma asks, giving May The Look, "You know about Coulson and a certain hacker."

"Good Morning Je-" comes the voice of the certain hacker, "Oh," she stops short at the sight of May and Coulson, "Good morning Jemma," she says warmly, quickly catching herself, "May, Coulson," with venom.

"Good morning Skye," Jemma replies, way too cheerfully for both Skye and May's tastes. May raises her eyebrows in a tell-you-later gesture at Jemma's inquisitive look.

"I guess I'll leave?" Coulson says, a sad smile tugging at his lips, "I'm fairly sure I need to brief Ward on a mission."

"Wait. You remember Ward?" Jemma says stopping him short.

"Yeah, Level 7 specialist, poop-with-knives Agent Grant Ward," he says in a joking tone as he turns to leave and suddenly stops.

"What does Ward look like?" he asks, half-way turning around.

"Oh my god," Jemma says, "It's not like me to jump to conclusions, but don't you realise that every even in which Agent Coulson regains his memories have one thing in common?"

"Which is?" May probes back, Skye watching them with a venomous curiosity.

"Skye," she says.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Double update so...yay! I actually posted this a long time before on my Archives of Our Own account,, but forgot to do so here. Songs used are Ugly Heart by G.R.L., Sorry by Naya Rivera, Cinematic by Cassadee Pope, Shower by Becky G (Actually, Ward singing it is kinda funny) and Good Times by Cassadee Pope**

"That can't be!" Skye exclaims immediately, "I mean, he obviously remembers May. And he didn't seem to remember a single thing when he talked to me yesterday. It's probably May, some Disney connection between love and yada yada yada."

"Nope, he couldn't remember a single thing when he was talking to me in my bunk, yesterday," May states, upon hearing Skye's words. to Skye's immense irritation.

After debating that matter for a while, their debate is stopped by a very irritated Coulson.

"Okay, noted. Jemma, you have a sort of mental test for this don't you?" he asks, with a hint of desperation in the firmness.

He's brought to a dark room with nothing else other than a chair and a computer recording his mental activity, while Jemma asks questions on the team, past missions and goals, alternating between Skye's presence and her absence.

The test results come out in an hour.

"Agent Coulson's mental reports show an immediate increase in mental activity when he sees Skye," Jemma reports, with a tone of finality as she shows Skye the paperwork.

Skye curses under her breath, this is just the universe being incredibly cruel to her. She was ready to get past Coulson and all his ways, but how the hell was she supposed to do that when he has to be around her 24/7 if he even wants his memories? Damn him and the memory machine!

"I'll work hard to find a cure, until then, I think it best for Skye's presence with Agent Coulson at all times, and for both to be off the field until I can find an at least temporary solution and, even then, only if it's extremely necessary," Jemma says, clinically, unfeelingly. She's the one supposed to make everything better, heal everyone, not assign Skye to the person she despises most on the team right now 24/7.

"Well, that'd definitely be the best idea for now," Skye says, as coolly as possible, "Always need a new version of Fitzsimmons, don't we?" She moves off, irritated and angry.

"Fix this," May says simply as she and Coulson leave after Skye.

"How's Skyecoulson?" Jemma asks in her innocent way, a few weeks after the entire affair. Very much like Fitzsimmons, the entire Bus had taken to calling Skyecoulson as one unit.

"I'm surprised everyday Coulson doesn't have his neck broken," May says grimly, "I will talk to Ward about relaxing Skye's training."

Jemma nods, she's been working on a solution, anything, that can appease both her suddenly very-withdrawn friend and her boss.

"Ward's angry, though. Thinks Coulson is paying Skye too much attention if you know what I mean," May continues. Jemma has never heard her as talkative as in the last few weeks.

"We did agree to keep it between the women of the team and Coulson, Fitz is continually angry at the times I spend away from him," Jemma says, regretfully, as her eyes fall upon a small, pink twisted speaker, "it's been a long time since we've done a karaoke night."

May nods, understanding where Jemma is getting at. If a karaoke night can take Skye's mind off Coulson and vice versa (though that'd technically be impossible) then, no matter how much May hates singing, it'll be worth a shot.

That night, in an in-between missions hiatus when they're parked in an open field, they all assemble at the couch area, Jemma with the speaker at hand.

"Karaoke time," she states, simply, and is incredibly relieved at Skye's broad smile.

"Can I go first?" Skye asks, "There's been a song I've wanted to sing since Raina."

The whole team settles on the couch, smiling supportively, especially Ward, who's been having a crush on the girl in front of him since the day they first met. Damn Coulson, he'd thought he-didn't-know-how-many times, stealing the girl of his dreams from him.

"I think this song really represents how I feel towards a certain member of our team," she says, smiling, and, if only for a moment, Coulson feels a renewed sense of hope in his heart. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to win Skye back again.

"Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm a fool," she sings, staring directly into the eyes of Coulson, "Maybe I don't know how to love, but maybe I do. Maybe you know more than me, but this much is true. This little heart and brain of mine say we're through with you!"

These words ring inside Coulson's head again and again. Damn it, Coulson, just when can you learn to stop breaking your own heart? Ward listens on with a sick sense of pleasure, understanding the underlying meaning of the words. So, Skyecoulson have broken up, he thinks, time for him to make his move. May and Jemma just watch with a look of horror on their faces, while Fitz simply looks puzzled.

"I wonder does it blow your mind, that I'm leaving you far behind. I wonder does it stop your heart, that you're not my sunshine anymore. Okay you're pretty, your face is a work of art. You're smile could light up New York City," despite it being uncalled for in the song, there is distinct venom in his voice, "after dark. Okay, you're coverboy pretty stamped with a beauty mark. It's such a pity, a boy so pretty with an ugly heart!"

It takes all of Coulson's self restraint to avoid from flinching, or something a lot more drastic like vomiting, in the entire song, and he can't help but celebrate internally when the song is finally finished.

Skye bows low, mocking before taking her seat on the couch, just an inch away from Ward.

May stares at Skye as she takes her seat, why'd she have to make it so personal? After a careful deliberation, she decides to step up and give Skye a piece of her mind, in the most misdirective, anger-causing way possible.

"Like Skye, I think this song will be very suitable for the events of the past few weeks," she says, as she starts the music from the ipod, "Sorry, I'm not sorry," she starts, in the most cut-throat way possible, staring directly into Skye's mocking, self-satisfied eyes, "Cause I've been rolling round, shut it down, lady, bagged him up, now he's my baby. Sorry, I'm not sorry. Yeah you've had your fun, now it's done, crazy. Looking at his number one lady. S-O-R-R-Y, S-O-R-R-Y. Yeah you had your fun, now it's done, crazy. Looking at his number one lady."

Fitz, more confused than ever, turns to Jemma, whispering, "You know what's going on?"

Jemma simply looks away, pretending not to have heard him, knowing very well she'd breach the privacy of the three parties involved if she spoke. Come to think of it, she wouldn't have minded putting the suddenly extremely cruel Skye and May in their places, but the thought of the embarrassment for Agent Coulson was enough to stop her.

Coulson doesn't miss the slight smirk of Ward, to his utmost disgust. He winces as May finishes the song.

A karaoke session has never been quite this painful.

May finally finishes, and, with a self-satisfied look at Skye, says, very intimately to Coulson, "Hey, Phil. Want to be next?"

Not really, he thinks, but finally decides on a song, facing nobody in particular.

"Oh... Slow motion when you walk in, my heart screams "Lights, Camera, Action!". Wanna flip to the page in the script, when we kiss in the pouring rain, like Spiderman did with Mary-Jane. You're so cinematic, your touch I gotta have it. Every scene you're making me belief, it doesn't have to be only on a movie screen. Red hot, non-stop, we've got cinematic love!"

For some reason, this song bugs Skye to the core. Despite saying she's entirely done with him, she can't help but want him to be singing about her, though she 'knows' he's singing about May, and feels the deep, suddenly familiar heat of hatred burning in her stomach.

When he finishes singing, Ward immediately volunteers, staring straight in the eyes of Coulson before moving onto Skye.

"I don't know it's just something about cha, got be feeling I can't be without cha. Anytime someone mention your name, I be feeling as if I'm around cha. Ain't no words to describe you baby, all I know is that you take me high. Can you tell that you drive me crazy, 'cause I can't get you out of my mind. Think of ya when I'm going to bed, when I wake up think of ya again. You're my home, lover and friend. Exactly why, you light me up inside, like the 4th of July. Whenever you're around, I always seem to smile. And people ask me how, well you's the reason I'm dancing in the mirror and singing in the shower. Ladade ladada ladada, singing in the shower. Ladade ladada ladada, singing in the shower," he sings, in a tone very much unlike that of the Agent Grant Ward they know.

His song sickens Coulson immensely, thinking about Ward hitting on Skye while still having a sexual relationship with May. Come to think of it, he cannot be sure Skye didn't tell Ward about the whole situation and he's doing a very public dumping of May.

Fitz gathers enough courage to sing, but Jemma cuts in.

"My turn," she says, in an uncharacteristically forceful way.

"Somebody get me a guitar, 'cause I've got something to sing to you. Picked up a groove in my car, it's gonna get in the soles of your shoes. It ain't about a lonely heart, did you wrong, broken promise, leaving song. This ain't one of those nights, we've all had enough of those nights! It's time to sing about the good times, come on let's rock it till the sun shines. Now that you've got it don't you waste it. Oh can't you feel it, can't you taste it? Oh yeah I really want to put a smile on your lips, like an eighth-grade kiss. Put a swing in your hips, come on move like this. Let's sing about the good times, good times. Yeah," Jemma sings, hoping to bring her point across.

Acknowledging this and the fact the karaoke night will only turn worse, Coulson nods.

With a pretence of authority, he announces that it's late and he's turning in, advising the others to do so as well.

May walks away without even the courtesy of a goodnight, while Ward pecks Skye's forehead before leaving.

"Night Jemma," Skye says, the tint of cruelty gone in her voice.

"Night, Skye," Jemma replies, as Skye leaves.

"Care to tell me what the hell just happened?" Fitz asks. Understanding it'd be a cruelty to continue keeping him in the dark, Jemma decides to fill him in.

"Wait a minute, Agent Coulson doesn't remember a single thing when he doesn't see Skye?" Fitz asks, his eyes widening.

"Yep, and from what I've gathered, he suffered from a temporary PTSD total memory loss when he was talking to Skye, so he went to May for help, and Skye arrived at the ridiculous conclusion Agent Coulson was cheating on-" Jemma explains.

"Wait a minute, Skye and Coulson are dating?" Fitz cuts in, to the surprise of Jemma, she'd assumed everyone knew.

"Well, they were, but Skye saw Coulson enter May's bunk, arrived at the stupidly ridiculous conclusion that Agent Coulson was cheating on her and broke up with him the next day, explaining the song," Jemma explains slowly, "The conclusion, by the way, is totally ridiculous because Agent Coulson would never cheat on anybody, especially not Skye."

"Skye?" he asks, still trying to process the situation.

"He loves her. I know I'm trained in Science, but I know love when I see it. She loves him too, but, I don't know, it's almost as if she's afraid," Jemma says, bluntly.

Just like I love you, Fitz thinks silently, and you must never know it because you'll reject me, and it'll destroy me. He envelops her in an embrace,

"We'll unite them. Skye just needs a little time, that's all. Her nerves were all jerked up from the Raina incident, it's a natural instinct," Fitz reassures her. They don't sleep, but work together actively on finding Coulson's cure

In his own bunk, Coulson can't sleep.

His memory has improved that he can remember a day's events without his brain automatically deleting it, but he would prefer to forget this day entirely. Hell, he doesn't remember the last one, so it's one consolation.

He knew Skye hated him before this. He knew karaoke night wouldn't come easy. But he didn't expect this much to happen.

He's a grown man, he doesn't need a girl to let him sleep.

But he knows that sleep hasn't come easy since the morning Skye left him, and after this, it'll be impossible to sleep any more.

May tosses and turns for a while before finally settling in a comfortable position.

She shouldn't have given Skye a piece of her mind. Shouldn't have placed Skye in such a difficult spot and Ward in such a good position to swoop in and steal Skye from Coulson's grasp.

Idiot.

It takes two long hours, but she does, eventually, sleep.

Skye stares into the eyes of her hula girl.

Am I bad person? She thinks, dumping one guy and immediately latching on to another.

No, I'm not, not when the guy I left was an absolute cheat and disgusting traitor.

With that knowledge, she comforts herself to sleep.

Ward lies down with a self-satisfied smirk. The girl is his now. His to keep, his to own. In your face Coulson.

He sleeps too easy compared to the rest of his team.

But none of them notice a stakeout behind a row of trees far away from the plane, how could they? The grin of the spy as he plans his route into the plane quickly. He just needs the perfect opportunity.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So, this is the end of It's All Coming Back To Me Now. Thanks for all the support! Last line taken from Celine Dion's It's All Coming Back To Me Now (the story's namesake)**

"May, we've got a problem," Jemma reports, breathing in deeply, afraid of what the steely pilot would do to her after hearing the bad news, she definitely didn't want to treat her own broken ribs.

"Speak," May says simply, she hasn't spoken much since the karaoke night, four days ago. As much as the chatty May had unnerved Jemma, she much preferred her to the cold, hostile version forever in her bunk working on something or another (though Jemma suspected it was non-S.H.I.E.L.D. related, they hadn't had a field mission in a month and had been in the grassy landing field for a week already), and had recently taken to hiding in the cockpit except for meal times, despite the fact they weren't flying anywhere.

"It's Agent Coulson," Jemma says, causing the pilot to instantly turn around from her seat.

"What about him?" she asks worriedly.

"Agent Coulson, he hasn't been out of his room since the karaoke night," Jemma begins.

"That's a perfectly natural response, knowing Phil, he'll snap out of it once damn HQ gives us a mission," May says, looking visibly relieved.

"But there's more. He's been refusing food and I snuck a camera into his office the one time I was able to get in, pretending to leave him food. The videos show he hasn't drunk more than a litre of water in total and hasn't slept at all, not to mention shower," Jemma finishes her report, wincing as May spins out of her chair.

"Damn it! Skye has really gotten to him, hasn't she?" May curses, leaving the cockpit immediately.

She knocks on Coulson's door.

No reply.

She slams on it.

No reply.

"Damn it, Phil, answer me! I know you're in there."

No reply.

She tries kicking the door open.

Hurt foot and no reply.

May reluctantly storms to Skye's bunk and knocks the door. She notices a slight hesitation before an extremely reluctant 'come in'.

She goes in and locks the door, neither one of them not noticing it's symbolism. Skye is on the bunk, surfing the net on her computer. From what she can see, it's Superhero Fan fiction.

"What's the matter May?" Skye asks, in the cold and dead manner she saves only for May and Coulson.

"Phillip Coulson," May states simply.

"What about him?" she still asks, not taking her eyes off her computer screen.

"He's not coming out of his bunk. Not showering, not sleeping, not eating. Hell, he's barely drinking!" May says, agitatedly, slamming Skye's computer screen shut.

"What the hell May! If you're so worried about your little boyfriend why don't you, yourself, go and take care of him!" Skye shouts, opening her laptop again and reading it's content.

"He won't listen to me, Skye. He's not listening to anyone on the Bus," May explains, with a hint of emotion, closing Skye's laptop again. She's always had a soft spot where Coulson was concerned.

"Well then, that's too bad. He should really reconsider the next time he decides to cheat on his girlfriend," Skye says, angrily, switching on her laptop again.

"We did not have an affair!" May says, closing Skye's computer once more, keeping her hand on it this time and clenching the other, and then, in a much more intimate tone, "Listen, my husband was a good man, but I thought he was cheating on me when he kept on visiting this agent. I only knew the surname. So I decided to secretly file for divorce, and he drank so much he drove over a cliff one night. Later on, I realised he hadn't been cheating on me at all, but he had been looking up a high-school friend of his. We became friends, and he never once doubted me, or blamed me, but I knew what a tragedy it was in his eyes."

"Who was this friend?" Skye asks, beyond flattered Agent Melinda fucking May was telling her personal things.

"Coulson," May says simply.

"Look, I want to help him, I really do. But I just can't walk past him and not want to break his neck, you know. I love him, but he doesn't make me feel safe. You do realise, I'm an 0-8-4, we don't know my origins, I'm scared about what I might do to him," Skye explains, staring into the older woman's eyes.

Yep, don't I know about that, May thinks, grimly, remembering the picture of the body of Agent Avery.

"It's worth the risk, he's killing himself," May says.

Skye seems to reflect on this for a while until, suddenly, an alarm rings, Skye immediately opens her laptop and accesses the mobile-alert-unit she designed.

"There's an infiltration in Coulson's office!" Skye exclaims, physically kicking herself as she climbs up.

As the exit the bunk, they see Ward leave the bunk as well.

" I heard there was an infiltration, where is it?" Ward asks immediately, joining the two women.

"Coulson's office, they say at once, together.

"Why?"

"Unknown."

It unnerves Ward how in sync both of them are when it comes to Coulson.

What bad luck with women I have, he thinks, before mentally slapping himself.

Focus, don't let anyone see this slip.

They burst open the door, to see two attackers dressed in simple black T-shirts and jeans. What stuns the team most is that they're S.H.I.E.L.D. issue T-shirts.

Coulson is wildly defending himself, but being food and energy deprived none of his punches or kicks seem to have any effect. They kick him down, one of them grabs Coulson's arm and forces him to half-stand while another delivers a heavy punch into the stomach, as Coulson attempts, failing, to kick one of them down. The team is momentarily paralysed at the scene, as they watch Coulson spit blood onto his once pristine floor.

Despite a stinging in his stomach, he stands up again, jumping on to one of the attackers to place him in a chokehold, but the other sneaks up behind him, jabbing him with a syringe containing a blue liquid that instantly causes him to lose grip and fall to the floor, hitting his head.

At the sight, the attackers move towards May.

"What do you want from us?" Skye shouts desperately, moving subtly towards the fallen, unguarded Coulson, relieved to find a pulse.

"We're recruiters. Idiot here wouldn't tell us where the person who hacked into our account was. So we had to make him," says one of them gruffly as he kicks Coulson in the stomach once more, jerking him, suddenly shooting something into Skye's heart. She falls to the ground, panting, gasping.

"Okay, anyone of you idiots can tell me who hacked into our account or she dies!" one of the men demand.

"What have you done to her!" Coulson shouts in desperation.

He can feel no pulse.

"Her heart isn't beating anymore, I can restart it, but you've to tell me who hacked into our account!" the man demands.

Suddenly, with a flash, he dives for the stomach of the man demanding it, realising he has the stopping mechanism is in the man's pocket. The other man dives for Coulson's legs, but, in a fit of adrenalin, he manages to kick the man away. A well-aimed punch to the first man's neck causes the man to fall onto the ground, unconscious, and Coulson dives for the remote control that'll restart Skye's heart. The other man, however, has other plans, taking out a knife, moving to stab Skye.

Coulson running purely on adrenalin, grabs the remote control, restarts Skye's heart, dashing in between her and the knife.

It stabs him in the back as he writhes in pain. It was where Loki had stabbed him little more than half a year ago.

Skye gets up, shocked, as Ward too dashes in-between May, realising the crazed man's determination to attack May while she's distracted by Coulson. With a few well placed kicks and punches, he manages to knock the man out, quickly finding spare rope and tying the two infiltrators to the bed.

"Oh my god, A.C.," Skye gasps, holding the writhing, half-conscious, bloody, Coulson in her arms.

May runs out of the room immediately.

"Simmons! We have an emergency!" they can hear May shout from inside Coulson's office.

"Stay awake," Skye begs, shaking Coulson every few seconds. It might hurt him, but she's not going to let him, very literally, die on her.

He nods, weakly, gasping her name, which just makes Skye cry.

It feels like eternity before Jemma manages to reach the office, and, from the look on her face, Skye knows it's not going to be good news.

"Agent Hill," Skye says formally towards the woman on the screen in front of her.

"Skye," the woman replies, "What is Agent Coulson's condition?"

"Not good, ma'am" Skye replies, unnaturally subordinate, to Hill's simultaneous relief and worry, "he's badly injured. A few broken ribs and sprained ankle. We're unsure of his head but it is possible he will suffer from memory loss," as if he wasn't already, Skye thinks, bitter at the world for being so unfair to the man she loved. Because, yes, she did love him.

"The stab was another thing. Luckily, it narrowly missed his heart this time, but there is still heavy blood loss and possible damage to his spine, due to the angle the knife was tilted at," Skye finishes her report in a clinical manner.

"Perhaps it'd be better if I had an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Level 7 preferred to talk to me?" Hill suggest, sternly.

"I a currently the only one in the plane. Agents May, Ward, Fitz and Simmons are all currently in the hospital," Skye replies back, coldly.

It is easier to shut down her emotions than show them. She wanted, more than anything, to be in the hospital, waiting for him, to be there when he wakes up, but she knows she doesn't deserve it. Where was I when he needed me most? Skye thinks. Where was I when he sacrificed himself for me?

Where was I when our love was truly tested?

"Understood, kindly bring one of them on the line once they return to the Bus," Hill says, performing the sign-off gesture.

Skye breaks down remembering who it was that taught her all the 'S.H.I.E.L.D. Language' as she had called it.

Who'd taken her in, despite all warnings, and given her the first home she'd ever had?

Coulson.

Who'd trusted her when there was only doubt, risking his own reputation in the process?

Coulson

Who'd given her a second chance, despite 'The Miles Affair'?

Coulson.

Who'd she given up on?

Coulson.

Who'd she betray?

Coulson.

Who'd she hurt, tortured?

Coulson.

Who's now lying on an operation table, barely clinging on to a string because of her?

Coulson.

She hated herself. He'd warned Mr. Peterson that there would be no third chance, and Skye was sure the same rules applied to her.

"Skye, you've got to go see him," Jemma says softly from the doorway, unnerving Skye as she hadn't known someone had entered the plane, let alone the room.

"It'll comfort him, I promise," Jemma continues, "what burns him inside is not hatred for you, Skye. It's an all-consuming love that was hurt by the fact he thought you couldn't reciprocate his feelings."

Skye just stares at her.

"It's proven that talking or singing can actually expedite the recovery of a patient. You've got to save him, Skye."

Skye nods dumbly. After four long hours, she's happily notified that the operation was a success, but the chance of Coulson ever waking up, unfortunately, was only 50%.

She sits by his side, apologising, thanking him throughout his coma.

It takes two weeks of barely sleeping, eating or drinking, but it happens in the end. He wakes up, just as Skye says the something for the first time.

I love you.

"Skye," his whispers, and she's so happy she wraps herself around him immediately.

"God, you're awake! I'm so sorry for everything that happened between us!" she says immediately.

"Skye, did you say you love me?" he asks, focusing on the first few words he'd heard.

"Yes, I did," she says, blushing.

Just then, the team enters, while Skye goes out of the room to give Deputy Director Hill an update.

As she walks in, standing next to his bed, there's even more cheering.

The hit on the head seems to have returned me my memory, even without you," Coulson says, smiling.

She tries smiling back, knowing this means the end of his continual presence beside her. He must be happy. He hadn't even said he loved her when she confessed.

"That's good,"she manages to choke out.

Coulson, reading her face perfectly, simply smiling and pulling her close. Knowing it as private moment, the team leave for a while.

"Don't worry, I'm still never going to let you out of my sight," he says, pecking her slightly on the cheek, before she turns around to make it a full hearted kiss.

After just being next to each other, silent, for a while, they see the two specialists of the team at the window, doing a thing that they'd just done.

"They seem to be going on nicely," Skye reflects, smiling.

"I love you, Skye," he says, pulling her flush against him once more.

"I love you too Phil," she replies, kissing him on the forehead.

When you hold me like this, and you touch me like that. It was gone with the wind, but it's all coming back to me now.


End file.
